A layer of benzene, an extremely poisonous chemical product, has polluted an eighty-kilometer (fifty-mile) area of the Songhua River in the northeast of China after a petrochemical-plant explosion on November 13 in the province of Jillin.

The Chinese government recognized yesterday the seriousness of the situation after the pollution forced the suspension of water supplies in the city of Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province.

Around nine million people are now concerned about this measure. The population has exhausted the supplies of bottled water in the supermarkets of Harbin, and the vice-governor of the province has even had to apologize before the inhabitants of the city.

The Chinese government has assured that the situation will be controlled by the end of next week, but many inhabitans have decided to leave the city temporarily. In the meantime Russia, the country neighboring China where the Songhua river joins the Amour, has declared a state of emergency in this region starting next Friday even though the Chinese authorities have affirmed that the pollution will reach Russian territory only after two weeks.